Singapore property auction sale value totaled to $223.9 million

Yet it is still a substantial 45% below the decade's high of $407.43 million recorded in 2007.

Colliers International said that the total sale value for 2010 is still 33% higher than the $168.39 million garnered in 2009.

The increase in sale value this year was achieved despite a 39.8 per cent dip in auction sale volume – from 118 properties sold in 2009 to only 71 sold in 2010.

This anomaly could be attributed to the buoyant sale of high-value properties – those valued above $5 million – amid a slowing mass market residential segment, which experienced dampened demand due to price resistance and the introduction of cooling measures by the government.

Ms Grace Ng, Deputy Managing Director of Colliers International, says, “The robust sale of high-value properties was fuelled by the pick-up in demand for landed homes, especially the Good Class Bungalows, as well as the returning confidence of investors, which is evidenced by the number of en bloc investment-grade properties bought by institutional investors during the year.

11 high-value properties, each worth more than S$5 million, were sold at auctions this year, compared to only two in 2009. These 11 properties amounted to a total of S$130.14 million, accounting for 58.1 per cent of the year’s total auction sale value.”